Archive for the ‘oddities’ Category

How left wing hackery killed Doctor Who…

Posted: February 15, 2010 by datechguy in doctor who, internet/free speech, oddities
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…in 1989.

Sylvester McCoy, the actor who played Doctor Who for two years in the 1980s, has revealed that left-wing scriptwriters hired by the BBC wrote propaganda into the plots in an attempt to undermine Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.

Shades of the Adventures of Robin Hood circa 1955:

“The idea of bringing politics into Doctor Who was deliberate, but we had to do it very quietly and certainly didn’t shout about it,” said McCoy.

“We were a group of politically motivated people and it seemed the right thing to do. At the time Doctor Who used satire to put political messages out there in the way they used to do in places like Czechoslovakia. Our feeling was that Margaret Thatcher was far more terrifying than any monster the Doctor had encountered. Those who wanted to see the messages saw them; others, including one producer, didn’t.”

And the Doctor wasn’t alone in this belief:

Sophie Aldred, who played Ace, the Doctor’s feminist companion, said a shared contempt for right-wing ideology had inspired “a real bonding process” for cast and crew.

“Thatcher was our prime minister and we weren’t happy,” she said.

Well of course they weren’t, after all you had people like Sakharov repressed not to mention people shot trying to cross the wall. Thatcher had much to answer for, oh wait that was East Germany and the Soviets the people Thatcher was opposing wasn’t it?

Well it didn’t matter after all it wasn’t as if a leftist tilt would kill a British institution that had existed for 26 years…oh wait:

However, ratings slumped from a high of 16m, when Tom Baker was the Doctor a decade earlier, to 3m and the show was taken off air twice: in 1986-7 by Michael Grade, then the director of programmes — who said it had “no redeeming features” — and again in 1989, two years after Grade had left the BBC.

Ah the joys of the left managing to make a British institution so unpalatable that it could not survive. One interesting thing to note, You see that same tilt in a few of the 7th doctor audios such as The Fearmonger. I wonder if this will come up in some of the commentaries?


Update: I just realized that I neglected to give the deserved hat tip to Life Dr. Who and Combom. Very much my bad.

The right choice

Posted: February 14, 2010 by datechguy in local stuff, oddities
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A tough call for the 5th street diner.

Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and for 40 days Catholics will be eating a whole lot more fish.

Their fish dinner is first rate but they expect to see the price of their fresh fish is likely going to go from $4.99lb to $7.99 lb. (Last week they paid $6.99 lb).

With fries and slaw they normally get $7 for their fish. At $4.99 they can make a profit, at $6.99 it is very tiny, at $7.99? Forget it.

Now the local supermarket is offering “previously frozen” Haddock for $4.99 lb this week. So in theory they could pick up some of that and keep the same prices but the fish would not be freshly caught.

When I asked about this. she didn’t have to think once. If the price goes up as they expect, they will raise the price enough to at least break even. When I asked Tina why she told me a fact of restaurant life: When people like what you have you don’t change it.

So it will be tighter belts for the customer and for the owners but the food will still be great and Robert Stacy’s picture is above the corner booth in his Alabama pull over.

Answer: Because the Spam is up too

Posted: February 13, 2010 by datechguy in oddities
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Q: How do I know my traffic is up?

Fun with statistics

Posted: February 7, 2010 by datechguy in oddities, opinion/news
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You know the most interesting thing I found concerning the case that Planned Parenthood was making about coming to Fitchburg was the “need” argument.

According to Planned Parenthood’s testimony the teen pregnancy rate is 49 per 1000 in the State of Massachusetts.

Also according to that testimony the teen pregnancy rate in Fitchburg is 17.1 per 1000

That is over 65% below the state avg.

Let’s put that in perspective: We will make the rash assumption that the books are not being cooked and the federal unemployment rate is 9.7%.

If Massachusetts’ unemployment rate to the Federal government’s had the same ratio as Fitchburg’s teen pregnancy rate does to the state of Massachusetts, the state unemployment rate would be below 3.39%.

That leads to some interesting common sense questions:

1. If my business was to address unemployment would I operate in an area with 3.39% unemployment or an area with 9.7% unemployment?

2. If I was giving out a government grant to address a problem such as unemployment would I give a grant to operate in a city with a 3.39% unemployment rate when the national avg is 9.7%?

3. If my business was dependent on a government grant showing a need for my services (say unemployment), and the place where I was opening had an unemployment rate 65% below the state avg. Would it be in my interest for the unemployment rate remain 65% below the state avg or would it be in my interest for that rate to rise to “demonstrate” the need for my services.

Just askin.

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